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Influential horror series 'Amnesia' now available on PS4
It turns out horror games are like buses -- you spend ages waiting for one to arrive and then three show up at once. After years of PC exclusivity, the Amnesia Collection finally allows PlayStation gamers to see what all the fuss is about. Costing $29.99, this digital package includes horror classics: Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, Amnesia: Justine and Amnesia: The Dark Descent -- for the first time.
Humble Indie Bundle 13 features Jazzpunk, OlliOlli
Comedy adventure game Jazzpunk and side-scrolling skateboarding sim OlliOlli headline the latest Humble Indie Bundle, with Shadowrun Returns available as an incentive for buyers who pay $12 or more for the package. All bundle buyers receive copies of OlliOlli, 2D exploration game Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, and twitch FPS Tower of Guns. Beat the average purchase price (currently $6.93) and you'll unlock Jazzpunk, survival horror sequel Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and four giftable copies of the 2D action-roguelike Risk of Rain. Humble Bundle's organizers are also offering up Teleglitch: Die More Edition free of charge for Halloween. The Humble Indie Bundle 13 is up for grabs through November 11. [Video: Humble Bundle]
Humble Bundle offers Summer Games Done Quick bundle
Summer Games Done Quick has just granted everyone a free pass to watch a week's worth of speedruns in the name of charity, but if livestreamed gaming isn't your thing, you can still support the cause. Donations made by Games Done Quick viewers will benefit Doctors Without Borders, but this time, the livestreaming effort has brought along a teammate: the fine folks at Humble Bundle. Until the charitable event's June 28 conclusion, The Summer Games Done Quick Bundle offers 10 games for $25, with 100 percent of its proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. The bundle includes Gunpoint, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs and Guacamelee! Gold Edition, among others. In the case of Guacamelee, only 25,000 copies are available for the sale, so anyone interested in brawling through an adventure as a luchador (and sometimes a rooster) should make a swift purchase. For PC users, each game can be claimed via Steam key or as a DRM-free download. Mac and Linux users should look closely at each game's dropdown menu before buying in however, since not all of them are available without DRM on all platforms, or even available on Mac and Linux in the first place. [Image: Humble Bundle]
Amnesia developer Frictional Games teases next endeavor
Frictional Games, the studio behind Amnesia: The Dark Descent and its sequel Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, is already teasing its next project. The above image is the result of visiting nextfrictionalgame.com, a placeholder site the studio has used to tease previous projects. The progress bar above seems to be increasing as more individuals visit the site or as time goes on. Presumably, once it reaches 100%, more information will be presented. Frictional Games shipped Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs earlier this month. In our review, we said the game is "punctuated by moments of disquieting and hideous awe," though we felt it ultimately wasn't able to reach the high bar set by its predecessor.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs review: Forgetting who you are
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs has made me question my sanity, or, at least, it's made me question my memories of playing the original Amnesia: The Dark Descent nearly three years ago. Admittedly, I don't have an acute recollection of the entire experience, but the sheer, overriding terror that The Dark Descent instilled in me is something I will likely carry forever. But now I find the truth of that ingrained emotion in doubt, because the same terror is seldom to be found in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Don't get me wrong, its gruesome world is lovingly crafted in disgusting detail, and its tale is horrifying in the truest sense of the word – but I wouldn't really call it frightening.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs sn-out in September
Amnesia indirect sequel A Machine for Pigs is set to finally freak out on September 10, priced at a 20 percent off pre-order tag of $16 on GOG. The follow-up to The Dark Descent was first slated for around this time last year, but saw delays as the PC, Mac, and Linux survival horror grew from a "short experiment" into a "fully fledged Amnesia game." A Machine for Pigs carries on Amnesia's brand of first-person scares, with development in the hands of Dear Esther studio The Chinese Room, with Dark Descent dev Frictional Games handling publishing duties. The second Amnesia is set in 1899, some 60 years after the first game, this time focusing on a business magnate who returns to Victorian London after encountering tragedy abroad - and we doubt it was food poisoning. The Chinese Room isn't just working on A Machine for Pigs; the British studio has signed up with an unnamed "major publisher" on a next-gen console game, due summer 2015.
The Chinese Room job listings call out next-gen game for 2015
British development studio thechineseroom, the outfit you may remember for its work on Dear Esther and the upcoming Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, is working on an open-world, first-person game for next-generation consoles. "We have just signed a development deal with a major publisher and are expanding our team for a next-generation console project, scheduled for release in summer 2015," a job listing for a visual FX artist points out. A second job listing for an audio designer mentions the unannounced game runs on CryEngine 3, suggesting this next-gen console game is Everybody's Gone to Rapture, the spiritual successor to Dear Esther. The official site for thechineseroom says to expect more info on this mystery game "in late summer." In February, thechineseroom pushed back A Machine for Pigs' launch to the second quarter of this year, between April and June.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs delayed to late summer
Frictional Games has pushed back the release date of its Amnesia: The Dark Descent follow-up A Machine for Pigs, citing a need to optimize the game on multiple fronts. "We are optimizing, tweaking and in general putting [our] expertise to good use," Frictional Games co-founder Jens Nilsson explains in a forum post at the developer's website. "[Co-developer thechineseroom] keeps putting in work as well," Nilsson continues. "There are companies working on the translations (will launch with 9 languages in addition to original English). The porting guys are porting away. Deals are being made. Things are prepared for launching the game through more online stores than any other [Frictional Games] game before." Amnesia introduced its unique brand of first-person horror to PC platforms in 2011, and while A Machine for Pigs was originally set to launch in time for Halloween last year, subsequent delays set its release back to the second quarter of 2013. Frictional Games has not announced a new release date for A Machine for Pigs, but notes that the game will launch "as the summer comes to an end."
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs delayed once more to Q2 2013
An official blog post from Frictional Games now says that the publisher's Amnesia: The Dark Descent followup, subtitled A Machine for Pigs, is due out not in "early 2013," as last stated, but in "Q2 2013," which means in April of this year or later. That's another slight delay for the title, which was originally scheduled for release back at Halloween last year.What's the holdup? Frictional says that A Machine for Pigs was originally planned as "a short, experimental game set in the universe of Amnesia," but as developers thechineseroom filled out the project, it became apparent that the "short experiment" was becoming "a fully fledged Amnesia game." So Frictional has made the decision to do it up right, which means another few months of waiting for fans. Frictional also says pricing and availability information is coming soon, so we'll keep an eye out for that.
Bad Piggies trailer shows just how naughty these pigs get
Bad Piggies retains the characteristic Angry Birds appeal, but has players build wacky rides to roll and fly across obstacle courses collecting stars. Despite its adorable design, we'll continue thinking of Bad Piggies as a prequel to thechineseroom's Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Bad, bad piggies.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs will take lessons from Dear Esther
One of the keys to creating Dear Esther, said thechineseroom's Dan Pinchbeck, was allowing the player as much control over the narrative as possible. Speaking at a panel during GDC Europe, Pinchbeck addressed the intentional ambiguity of Dear Esther, saying that it gave players more freedom, thus making their time with the game more enjoyable. Rather than presenting the player with predetermined series of events, Dear Esther's story is filled with ambiguity and revealed randomly, leaving it to the player to interpret it. In a very real sense, they actually participate in the story's creation.While most games lay out their stories in a clear, linear fashion – think big budget FPS and action games – Pinchbeck likens Dear Esther's story to a toy box. Instead of giving players a cohesive, linear story, thechineseroom created story blocks and lets players put them together. It's a bit like "story Minecraft," he said. "The story of Dear Esther doesn't actually particularly tell you anything. It just suggests things that could have happened, but you can do the work."People are driven to think of events in terms of story, he said. "If something looks and feels enough like a story, people are likely to interpret the action in a storied way." As such, when creating Dear Esther, thechineseroom wasn't concerned with creating a complete, fully rounded story. "What we can try and do in games, is not tell a story, but to provide the player with the toolbox – the tools, the bricks that they need to tell the stories themselves," said Pinchbeck. "In exactly the same way that we consider things like physics sandboxes," he adds, "if you provide those units of useful, interesting stuff that players can play with, they will create an experience from it."During the Q&A session, we asked Pinchbeck if Thechineseroom's next project, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs will follow the same model of abstract storytelling. Unlike Dear Esther, said Pinchbeck, A Machine for Pigs exists within the constraints of a "classic horror story," so it won't follow the same model entirely. "What we're going to try and do is we're going to try and keep the lessons that we've learned in terms of not funneling the plot down, not being really explicit with the player about what's going on, using inference, using suggestion," he said. "We're trying to have any opportunities we can to keep that open" for players to do the work of piecing together the ambiguous bits, which he says are especially important in a horror game. "You pretty much can't represent anything in a horror game that's going to be more scary than what the player thinks you're going to represent, and the moment you actually show it, you've lost an awful lot of the power you've got to scare them."
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs delayed to 2013
Excellent news for the sanity of survival horror fans everywhere: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs will not be making its intended 2012 launch. Originally slated to arrive in time for Halloween, A Machine for Pigs will now be released in early 2013, thechineseroom creative director Dan Pinchbeck said in a recent interview with GameZone. "The quality of the game is the absolute first, last, and always with this development," he told the outlet, adding that the game "could do with a few more months' work."In a follow-up with Giant Bomb, Pinchbeck noted that thechineseroom will "definitely have more to show in the not too distant future."
Scared Stiff: Amnesia and the evolution of the modern horror game
If it's horror, Colette Bennett knows it. This column is dedicated to everything frightening gaming has to offer, from ghostly little Japanese girls to flesh eating zombie dogs. You fumble through the darkness, your feet slopping in the rain. You have no idea where you are or how you even got here. An unfamiliar sound reverberates in the distance, its tinny undertones stinging your ears and furthering your sense of confusion. You're alone and have nothing to defend yourself with. And the only sound you can hear is that of your breathing, ragged with panic.There's no mistaking it – this is survival horror.Unlike the basic action and platform genre, the evolution of horror titles has followed a slow, twisty path. By the mid-nineties, it was known for its signature talent: the ability to reel you into a dark, unknown world like a helpless fish. Titles like Silent Hill and Resident Evil acted as some of the first passports into the journey we now refer to as "psychological horror." System Shock, Parasite Eve, Fatal Frame, and Siren were memorable trips into less-than-reassuring territory. Throw in some unexplained, mysterious figures, watch the world spin out of control, and you've got one hell of a recipe for an addictive genre. Who would have thought that fog-choked towns and shambling creatures who greet you with a spray of vomit could be so appealing?%Gallery-148212%
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs dev teases ... um, a pig monster
The terror of Frictional's first Amnesia game never involved the almost comical squeals of a pig wielding what sounds like an axe. In Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, that's all gonna change. See – er, hear – for yourself in the latest teaser, above.
Amnesia dev shares secrets of evolving the horror genre
Frictional Games proved it knows how to make a game that would scare the bejeezus out of Beelzebub himself with Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but there's always room for improvement. Frictional's Thomas Grip has compiled a list of 10 items that can "take horror games to the next level," and (surprisingly) it doesn't begin with "Everything opposite of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City." It does, however, touch on a few points that could have put the "horror" back into that particular survival-horror title.Grip suggests "minimal combat," "long build-up" and "doubt" are essential to evolve the horror genre, and we've already seen these aspects work wonderfully in Amnesia. Another aspect Grip notes is "no enemies," which he clarifies as follows: "What I mean is that we need to stop thinking of any creatures that we put into the game as 'enemies.' The word enemy makes us think about war and physical conflict, which is really not the focus in a horror game."Grip's list seems to focus on different approaches to immersion and connecting to players on an emotional, human level before ensuring they won't be able to sleep properly for a few weeks at least. All 10 points are described in full on Frictional's blog.Perhaps we'll see a few of these fleshed out in Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, a sequel in development by thechineseroom and overseen by Frictional itself.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs aims to frighten you, even if you know what to expect
Amnesia proved, among other things, that atmosphere is one of the most important aspects in a horror title, trumping jumpy music, grotesque character designs and top-of-the-line graphics -- but now imagine Amnesia's panicked, clammy tone coming from a game as dark and beautiful as Dear Esther. Pure terror.This is what Amnesia developer Frictional Games has charged Dear Esther's thechineseroom with accomplishing in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs."The thing is, if we don't frighten people as much as the original, then we've failed," Dan Pinchbeck of thechineseroom told Gamasutra. "But now we have to frighten people that know what to expect. The big design challenge is: How do we protect the things that make Amnesia great, and how do we evolve everything else to make a really fresh experience?"Pinchbeck wants players to be reminded of the original Amnesia with each shiver of fear, but to be so enthralled by the new, horrific world that it will feel as if "something has burrowed into your head and is just scratching its nails at you. But you're so hooked. Inside, you're peeling away like bodies from a pile and you just can't stop yourself," Pinchbeck said.Now that sounds like fun.
Building A Machine for Pigs and expanding the universe of Amnesia
It takes place sixty years after Amnesia: The Dark Descent at the turn of the twentieth century, yet the next game to carry the franchise's moniker will feel like familiar territory in one major respect: it is built to scare you senseless.It's six-o-clock in the morning. My tea jolts me awake. The street outside is silent. It's serene and peaceful all around me, until I call Frictional Games designer Thomas Grip. His voice booms in my headset; he's obviously excited. This is the first time his team can talk about his upcoming project. This is how I was introduced to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is the next title from Frictional Games and Dear Esther dev
The power of two crowned indie developer darlings have joined together to form one team, set to bring the Amnesia franchise into a new era.Speaking exclusively with Joystiq, Frictional Games and Dear Esther's thechineseroom have revealed their latest project, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.Developed by thechineseroom and produced by Frictional Games, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is planned for a debut on PC later this year. No firm date has been set, but internally the two studios hope to launch before Halloween. A recent alternate reality game has been teasing the the next Amnesia's reveal, sending fans into a frenzy."It's not a direct sequel, in terms of it doesn't follow on from the story of Amnesia. It doesn't involve the same characters," Dear Esther writer Dan Pinchbeck told me. Instead, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs will be set in the same "alternate history and set in the same universe." In short, the game will look to scare your pants off.Set in 1899, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs follows the "wealthy industrialist" Oswald Mandus, who has returned home from "a disastrous expedition to Mexico, which has ended in tragedy." Struck by a destructive fever, Mandus is haunted by dreams of a dark machine until he mysteriously regains consciousness. Months have passed, unbeknownst to the industry tycoon, and as he emerges from his slumber the roaring engine of a mysterious machine sputters to life.A detailed interview with Frictional Games designer Thomas Grip and thechineseroom's Dan Pinchbeck is coming later today, delving deeper into the darkness with Amnesia's next chapter. And yes, the two discuss what A Machine for Pigs means.%Gallery-148212%
